Exciting talent set to coach USA at 2019 Cadet World Championships

A talented pool of coaches will be leading our Cadet teams into the World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, July 29-Aug. 4.

Men’s freestyle

The assigned coach for the men’s freestyle team is 2000 Olympic champion Brandon Slay.

A wealth of coaching knowledge, Slay is the Executive Director and Head Coach of the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center in Philadelphia and has served as USA Wrestling’s National Development Coach from 2009-2016.

As an athlete, Slay was a U.S. National champion, two-time University National champion, two-time All-American for Penn and a two-time Cadet World medalist.

In 2016, Slay was inducted to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member, the highest honor. He is also a member of the University of Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, EIWA Hall of Fame, & Texas Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame.

Coaching alongside Slay is fellow Olympic champion and current USA Wrestling National Development Coach Kevin Jackson.

Jackson has garnered countless achievements as an athlete and coach. Most notably, during his athletic career, Jackson was the 1992 Olympic champion and a two-time World champion, winning gold in 1991 and 1995.

On a coaching level, Jackson has extensive experience. This is his second stint with the USA Wrestling National Coaching Staff. He previously served as USA Wrestling’s National Freestyle Coach from 2000-2008, and as the National Freestyle Resident Coach from 1998-2000.

During that time, Jackson coached Henry Cejudo and Cael Sanderson to Olympic titles as well as helping the U.S. to 11 World medals.

Jackson also spent eight years as Iowa State’s head coach, producing four NCAA champions and 14 All-Americans.

The men’s freestyle competition will kick off the World Championships, taking place July 29-31.

Women’s freestyle

Helping lead the women’s team is Erin Vandiver, girls wrestling head coach at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, Pa., a high school powerhouse.

Vandiver served several years as the U.S. Women’s Assistant National coach in Colorado Springs, Colo. During that time, which included two Olympic Games, Vandiver coached many women to World and Olympic medals, including Olympic champion and 2015 World champion Helen Maroulis, Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun and three-time World champion Adeline Gray.

As an athlete, Vandiver was a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident and a two-time World Team member, finishing seventh at the 2006 World Championships and 13th in 2001.

She also boasts two bronze medals from the 1998 and 1999 Cadet World Championships.

In Bulgaria, she will team up with Brent Barnes, who is a legendary high school coach out of Washington.

He heads a very successful program at Lake Stevens High School that has won more than 10 state titles, produced multiple state champs and several state place winners. Barnes has been a tremendous influence for many girls in the state of Washington during their developmental years, providing a great foundation for many young wrestlers. He cares about developing successful people of character as well as successful wrestlers.

Barnes has been heavily involved with USA Wrestling’s women’s program since 2003 and is a multiple-time Cadet and Junior World Team coach. Most recently, he coached the 2016 and 2017 Junior World Teams in Macon, France, and Tampere, Finland, respectively.

Alongside them will be USA Wrestling Women’s Freestyle National Development Coach Jessica Medina, who joined the staff in early 2019.

Also a former USOPTC resident athlete, Medina was a six-time U.S. Senior National Team member and 2009 and 2010 Senior World Team member. She also won a 2006 Junior World bronze medal.

Medina joined the USA staff after serving as Ferrum’s women’s wrestling head coach for two seasons.

The women’s portion of the competition will take place July 31-Aug. 2. 

Greco-Roman

Heading up the Greco-Roman team is Shawn Sheldon, who was a 1991 Greco World silver medalist.

In addition to winning a World medal, Sheldon represented the United States at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and seven other World Championships. He was on the U.S. National Team for 13-straight seasons.

Sheldon owns eight U.S. National Greco-Roman Championships and was a seven-time runner-up.

As a college athlete, SUNY Albany where he was a 1986 NCAA Division III National Champion and a three-time All-American.

Coaching-wise, Sheldon is one of the most active Greco-Roman coaches, serving as an Olympic and World coach and leading numerous U.S. tour teams. Currently, he is a coach for the New York Athletic Club. He has also coached at the high school and club levels in Florida as well as with Florida’s USA Wrestling state association.

Working with Sheldon is Gary Mayabb, USA Wrestling Manager of Greco-Roman Programs.

Mayabb’s position focuses on improving USA Wrestling’s performance in Greco-Roman wrestling at all levels while growing the sport in the United States. He was a successful high school coach in Missouri, developing champion teams and athletes.

One of the best developmental coaches in the country, Mayabb has tons of experience, coaching nearly 15 age-group World Teams over the years.

As an athlete, he was a 1990 U.S. Open runner-up in Greco-Roman, and qualified to compete in four U.S. Olympic Team Trials series (1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992). In college, he was a two-time captain for the wrestling team at the University of Central Missouri, where he was an NCAA qualifier and the MIAA Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler in 1983.

The Greco-Roman portion of the competition will take place Aug. 2-4. Watch live on Trackwrestling.com or follow @USAWrestling on Twitter.